Hard surface floor and wall covering



Aug- 22, 1950 vw. s-rUBBLEBlNE 2,519,410

' man SURFACE noon Ama wm. comme Filed Nov. 30, 1944 INVETOR. Ma MWPatented Aug. 22, 1950 HARD SURFACE FLOOR AND WALL COVERING WarrenStnbblebine, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Armstrong Cork Company,Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 30,1944, Serial No. 565,907

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to hard surface floor or wall coverings, and moreparticularly, to a hard surface floor or wall covering including aunitary, partible, felted, brous stratum having an alkyd resin uniformlydispersed throughout the mass of the fibrous stratum in an amountsuiiicient to render such stratum substantially water-resistant and tostrengthen said stratum to prevent its separation into laminae whenexposed to trailic conditions, but insufficient to completely fill thesatisfactorily. Either too great an amount of saturant is disposed in aportion of the sheet interstices thereof whereby, when the covering isadhesively securedto a base, the stratum may be subsequently ruptured topermit removal of the covering from the base.

It is well-known that floor coverings including a saturated fibrousbacking are extremely difficult to remove from a base when adhesivelysecured thereto. Various proposals have been offered heretofore toremedy this difficulty which is inherent in the use of such types offloor covering. For example, it has been proposed to provide thesaturated felt backing with a rupturable coating in order to permitremoval of the covering from a base to which it is adhesively secured.That is, when the covering is adhesively secured in place and tensileforces are applied to remove the covering, the coating ruptures topermit removal of the covering from the base. This procedure isextremely difficult to carry out commercially. Under commercialconditions, it is extremely diflicult to formulate and maintain acoating within required limits of rupturability, and in many cases, thecoating is too weak so that the covering is separated from the base whenexposed to traftlc while in other cases, the coating is stronger thanthe saturated felt so that attempted removal ruptures the backing ratherthan the coating, leaving an unsightly mass of felt on the base which isextremely dimcult to remove "for the saturant prevents the penetrationcf water to the adhesive.

It has also been proposed to render floor coverings of this typeremovable by differentially saturating the felt backing. That is, theportion of the felt backing adjacent the wear surface of the coveringcontans a large amount of saturant while the portion of the backingadjacent the base contains saturant in an amount considerably smallerthan the amount of saturant contained in the portion of the backingadjacent the wear surface. The theory proposed is excellent while thecommercial application of the theory is difllcult isnot well-nighimpossible. Under commercial conditions, it is impossible todifferentially saturate a felt sheet which should carry a small amountof saturant or insuilicient saturant is disposed in the portion of thesheet adjacent the wear surface. Accordingly, such proposals, whiletheoretically possessing merit, are impracticable from a commercialpoint of view.

The chief object of my invention is to provide a floor or wall coveringof the type described above inl which the disadvantages involved incommercial production are obviated. A further object of my invention isto provide a floor or wall covering including a felt backing containingalkyd resin uniformly permeating the mass of the fibrous backing. Afurther object is to provide an easily removable floor or wall coveringincluding a unitary, partible, felted, fibrous stratum. A still furtherobject is to provide a hard surface floor or wall covering whichincludes a unitary, partible, felted, fibrous stratum carrying an alkydresin dispersed substantially uniformly therethrough in an amountsufficient to render the brous stratum substantially Water-resistant andto strengthen the brous stratum to prevent its separation into laminaewhen exposed to traflic conditions. This invention relates to a hardsurface floor and wall covering which includes a unitary, partible,felted, brous stratum, the ber constituents of said stratum beingsubstantially uniformly felted throughout the thickness thereof, and analkyd resin uniformly permeating the fibrous stratum, said resin beingdispersed substantially uniformly throughout the mass of the fibrousstratum in an amount suicient to render the fibrous stratumsubstantially water-resistant and to strengthen said stratum to preventits separation into laminae when exposed to tralc conditions, butinsuicient to completely ll the interstices thereof, whereby when thecovering is adhesively secured to a base, the stratum' may f besubsequently ruptured to permit removal of the covering from the base.

Th.n attached drawing illustrates a preferred embodiment of myinvention, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view of the floor coveringdof my invention adhesively secured to a base; an

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the process of manufactureof the floor covering of my invention.

Referring to the drawing, there is disclosed a unitary hard surfacefloor or wall covering 2 composed of a wear-resistant surface 3integrally 'removal of the covering from the base.

united with a fibrous stratum or backing 4. Preferably, wear surface 3is composed of a siccative oil-resin gel, fillers, and pigments as iscustomary in the manufacture of linoleum compositions. It will beunderstood it may comprise a wear-resistant paint coating if desired.

The fibrous stratum hs composed of a mass of fibers uniformly feltedthroughput the thickness thereof and is permeated by an alkyd resinuniformly dispersed throughout the mass thereof.-

The alkyd resin is present in an amount sufllcient to render the fibrousstratum substantially waterresistant and to strengthen said stratum toprevent lts separation into laminae when exposed t tramo conditions. Theamount of alkyd resin carried by stratum 4 is insufficient to completelyfill the interstices of the fibrous stratum, whereby when the coveringis adhesivelysecured to 'a base, the stratum may be subsequentlyruptured to permit removal of the covering from the base.

Preferably, .the alkyd resin is formed by the condensationpolymerization of an aliphatic dibasic acid containing fourteen tothirty carbon atoms, castor oil, and glycerol; for example, castoroilmay be broken down into Various dibasic acids, and such acids, thecastor oil residue and glycerol reacted to form th alkyd resin. In thisthe dibasic'acid replaces phthalic anhydride ordinarily used to formalkyd resins. It will be understood that the alkyd resin is 'not incured condition when it is dispersed throughout'the mass of thefibrous-stratum since a substantially completely polymeriz'ed resinwould not be capable of uniformly permeating the mass of the fibrousstratum. I'prefer to use an alkyd resin, such as Duraplex AIP-210,though any oil-modified alkyd resin may be used if it does not becometoo hard when cured or substantially compeltely polymerized.

The floor covering 2 is secured to a base 5 by a layer 6 of any suitableadhesive composition. When it is desired to remove theY covering 2 fromthe base, application of tensile forces to the covering ruptures thefibrous stratum 4, permitting Only a thin layer of felt remains on thebase and such small amount of felt may be easily and quickly removed bythe application of a solvent, for example, water, if' a water typeadhesive be used, since the impregnant does not fill the interstices ofthe felt and the solvent can quickly and readily penetrate the felt toweaken the adhesive bond.

The fibrous stratum carrying an alkyd resin as contemplated by myinvention in non-staining; a seal coating is unnecessary to improve itsphysical properties and appearance. The elimination of seal coatingsconsiderably decreases the cost of manufacture, particularly when thewear surface is composed of a wear-resistant paint, since bleeding ofthe impregnant into the wear surface cannot occur. It will beunderstood, of course, if desired, a seal coat may be applied, but aspointed out above, this is not necessary.

In the manufacture of the fioor covering of my invention, any usualflooring felt may be impregnated with the alkyd resin described above. Aroll of flooring felt 1 is coated with a coating of alkyd resin B bymeans of an applicator roll I which applies the resin to one side of thefelt sheet. The felt sheet carrying the alkyd resin is then warmed bypassing it over heated drums Il and is formed into rolls l I while warmand permitted to remain in rolled condition for about twenty-four hoursthus permitting the alkyd resin to permeate substantially uniformly l 4throughout the fibrous sheet. Preferably, the alkyd resin is maintainedat a temperature of 180 to 220 F. when it is applied to the felt sheet.After the resin has permeated substantially uniformly throughout thebrous sheet, it is carried into a stove or oven I2 yand the alkyd resinis cured at a` temperature of 175 .to 200 F. Such temperatures arepreferable," but it will be understood higher temperatures reduce thetime required for complete conversion of the resin. The cured resin istough and strong.

The wear coating 3 may be integrally united with the fibrous stratum asis customary and well-known in the floor covering industry. If desired,such wear surface may be cured or stoved without affecting in any waythe rupturable characteristics of the fibrous backing. The fibrousbacking shouldcontain the alkyd resin in an amount falling within therange of 25% to 30% of the weight of the dry felt. Such resin, aspointed out above, is uniformly dispersed throughout the mass of thefibrous sheet and renders the fibrous sheet substantiallywater-resistant and strong enough to resist severe traffic conditions,but is insufllcient to prevent ready removal of the covering from a baseto which it is adhesively secured.

In my experiments, I have determined certain definite limits of cohesionwithin which the strength or resistance to tensile forces of the fibrousstratum must fall in order to obtain ready removability. I havedetermined that limits of cohesion of 3 to 30 pounds are satisfactory,but limits of 6 to 30 pounds are preferred. With greater tensileresistance than 30 pounds, the fibrous stratum is resistant to a degreeto prevent ready removability. With tensile resistance less than 3pounds, it is dangerously weak and may be separated into laminae bysevere traffic and excessive wear. For that reason. a minimum of6 poundsis preferred. The pull test, hereinafter refrerred to as the Scott testused to establish these limits, may be carried on in the followingmanner:

To one side of a strip of wood 6" long and 2 wide, a thin layer oflinoleum cement or paste is applied using a notched doctor blade toapply the paste or cement evenly over the entire surface. To the pasteor cement is immediately applied a strip of the covering to be tested 8"long and 2" wide, one end of which is placed flush with one end of thestrip of the wood, the other end extending freely beyond the wood strip.After rolling to obtain a satisfactory bond between the wood and thecovering, the sample is maintained at normal room temperature forapproximately four days to dry the paste or cement. The resistance ofthe fibrous stratum to tensile forces isdeterniined by placing thesample in a Scott tensile strength machine at right angles to thedirection of the forces to be exerted. The strength of the forcesrecorded as the covering is removed from the wood strip measures theresistance of the fibrous stratum to tensile forces.

While the present invention has been described as particularly adaptedto the manufacture of so-called felt base and linoleum-like floor orwall coverings, it is likewise adapted for use in the production ofcoverings, such as industrial flooring which comprises a saturated feltbase or body carrying an asphaltic coating as a wearing-surface; floorcoverings in which the fibrous stratum itself may form the wearingsurface, or any similar floor coverings which include a partible s brousstratum, such as asphalbsaturated felt underlayment for resilient tilesand the like.

A building structure embodying my invention may be formed in thefollowing manner: The base is prepared to receive a covering; that is,

it is cleaned and levelled lso that it presents al clean, dry,substantially smooth surface. A layer of adhesive is spread evenly overthe base: the

hard surface covering is laid thereon beiore the adhesive is dry andilrmly pressed thereagainst as by rolling, placing heavy sand bagsthereover. or the like. When the adhesive has dried.,the covering issecurely attached to the base.

When itis desired to remove the covering, thel fibrous stratum may bereadily ruptured by exerting tensile forces on the structure. The feltsplits, or separates into laminae, leaving a thin layer or lamina of thealkyd resin impregnated felt secured to the base while the major portionof the brous stratum is removable with the I claim:

l As-a new articleof manufacture. a hard surface iioor and wall coveringwhich comprises a Scott test. said resin being the only impl'enantwearing surface. When the covering is removed,

the base may be readily placed in condition to receive a new covering bywashing away the minor portion of felt and adhesive remaining thereonand following the process described above. The floor or wall covering ofmy invention posdeilnite removable features which are not aiiected bythe temperaturesl or length of time required Afor maturing the wearsurface. The

rupturable fibrous stratum is inexpensive and satisfactorily resistantto trame conditions while retaining its rupturable characteristics. Itis inexpensivey and is `quickly and easily applied to form thedecorative wear-resistant surface of. a iioor or wall. The type andquantity of adhesive usedtosecure the coveringtoabasedoesnot aifect therupturable characteristics of the door l covering of my invention to anysubstantial extent.

While I have describedand illustrated a pre ferred embodiment of myinvention. it will be understood my invention is not limited theretosince it may be otherwisegembodied within the scope of the followingclaim.

for said stratum and being present in an amount by weight falling withinthe range of 25% to 30% of the weight ofthe dry saturated fibrousstratum and being dispersed substantially uniformly throughout the massof the ilbrous stratum in render the brous'stratum substantiallywaterresist'ant and to strengthen said stratum to prevent its separationinto laminae when exposed to traiilc conditions but not completelyillling the interstic of said stratum whereby the stratum may beruptured to permit Vremoval of the iloor covering from a base to whichit is adhesively REFERENCES CITED The following references are oilrecord in the nie of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,272,144 ,Allen ---a Peb. 3,1m2,274.91@ Adml mi. 3, 1942. 2,295,070 Allen sept. 8, 1942 2,318,746Stllinle ---a Api'. 13, 1943 2.318.272 Wellle my 4, 1w

Certificate of Correction Patent No. 2,519,410 August 22, 1950 WARRENSTUBBLEBINE It is herebT certified that error appears in the printedspecification of the above numbered patent requiring correction asfollows:

Column l, line 53,' Jfor the Word is before not read fij; column 3, line54, for

in after invention read fis; and that the said Letters Patent should beread as corrected above, so that the same may conform to the record ofthe ease in the Patent OHce.

Signed and sealed this 7th day of November, A. D. 1950.

[SEAL] THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assisam Gommz'ssz'oner of Patents.

